Don't bury me!

I'm not dead...

L’Inhumation Précipitée by Antoine Wiertz

... I've just been busy.

There's plenty on the way, including more of Young Will's Hallowe'en shopping reviews and updates on the animatronic Raven (I've been busy)!

If you're new to the ol' S&P, there is so much to catch up on! Search through our 'It's All In The Past' archive to the right.

If you've been here many times before, I thank you for your loyalty and your patience.

Last one out, turn out the lights and lock up. 

And keep Fester away from the kegs.

DDA.S.A.P.!

Making Hallowe'en, pt. 4

Good evening, S&P-brains (like that one?)...

Don't get up. Stay relaxed and funky -- it's late on a Friday night (well, now early on a Saturday morning) and I don't want to interrupt any mellow Autumn toasts and tributes.

I just wanted to hop in and give you a look at some of my meager (but consistent) Hallowe'en decor progress.

First up, I gave dear, diseased Madeline Usher a decent head of hair.

I must say I like the color, and it will be a striking complement to the rest 

of her scene.

Then, I continued work on something I have so far avoided talking about here -- what is this thing?, you might ask:

By the looks of it, a beat up radio controlled car broken and reforged into

something wholly indescribable.

But really, it's the core workings of my Raven animatron.

Here's some too-dark, too-brief video of how it's beginning to move:

It will also be leaning forward, and the talking head will be atop the...

Hey, you know what?

We'll get to it when we get to it. I'll fill you in as it happens.

But I am excited!

Enjoy your weekend. I'll be building and working and on and on... using, of course,


MELTYBEADS!

Young Will's Hallowe'en Spree, pt. 2

Hey there, loyal pubbies.

I have some new photos for you.

A few of the local stores have been slowly stocking their shelves with Hallowe'en goodies, and you know what that means -- another adventure with Young Will.

It starts with the goofy glasses. It always does.

We noticed that this particular store missed a great pun opportunity:

'Pet Pajamas'? C'mon, it's PETJAMAS! I wouldn't put a costume on my pet

so I suppose it shouldn't matter to me, but Young Will and I both thought

they'd blown their shot at a pun worthy of Forry himself!

Then Young Will noticed a mildly sad situation.

WAY too early for Thanksgiving, but nice to meet you just the same. 

See you in a few months, but for now... irrelevant!

Back to the good stuff!

Pumpkins, as ever, are at the very heart of the

celebration of All Hallow's Eve.

(Glum Pumpkin?)

The candy aisles are usually the first to get stocked in any store:

I know, they're still in their packaging there -- you try telling Young Will

he can't at least attempt it.

Also, you try to make a sentence with all three 'there/they're/their' words in it like I just did.

So, unable to taste his lollipops, Young Will resorts to panhandling for candy -- I really

think his posing like the creepy butler figure behind him is purely coincidental.

He didn't have any luck with candy.

But that's not to say he didn't get any handouts...

After shaking off this creepy extremity, he decided to try for a nearby candy dish:

... and got another hand anyway!

So, Young Will moved away from candy dishes and onto plates and cups:

(We both liked these immensely; Hallowe'en gifts, okay?)

With food comes the need for drink, and we found an interesting libation:

Young Will decided to partake right there in the store...

... and straight from the jug(-ular?)!

Feeling very Hallowe'enish now, Young Will went costume shopping.

And there were some doozies...

Rolling his eyes at the Monkey Wrench.

And who wouldn't roll their eyes at this? "Emits Real Bronx Cheer", eh? 

I swear, if I see you wearing this, I'll emit a real Bronx punch in your throat.

Young Will had trouble with this Dragon costume... which has no wings!

You see, he is an expert (quite seriously) on all things dragon. 

Do not offend his sensibilities regarding the subject.

But not all was lost. There were some perfectly fun outfits to be found.

This kid truly rocks.

He likes group singing:

... and really enjoys a good pun.

Apparently he enjoys bad puns too. Napoleon Blownapart? That's right,

there's nothing funnier than a pun older than Lincoln.

After regaining his composure, Young Will ponders a few more 

decorative props.

"Um, Uncle Mike, why is Marcus The Carcass a Yeti?"

Good question, sir. Good question.

"Um, Uncle Mike, why are these weapons called She- weapons? I mean,

like, what's a She-Pitchfork? A She-dagger? Come on!"

I love that Young Will thinks like a normal person.

"Um, Uncle Mike, why do they have portraits of Eva Braun

and Henny Youngman?"

(Okay, he didn't really ask this one. I just had to show the pic!)

Help?

Heeeeellllpp!

Oouuuucchhh!

Well, after perusing and playing, we felt it was time to clean up our mess...

In another few days, we'll be hitting more stores because the goodies are really

coming out now. 

School's in, which means Back-To-School aisles are out!

 More goodies, more fun decorations, more spooky coolness with Young Will.

Though I suppose, for Young Will, it may not get any better than

Napoleon Blownapart.

*sigh!*

Stay tuned for more adventures next week.

Also, more prop-making has been going on, and I'll get you an update soon.

'Til then,

MELTYBEADS!

Ghost-ery store.

Hello loyal S&Pers!

I hope you're all enjoying your lengthy Labor Day weekend.

Just a quick post about a short hop to my local grocery store last night.

I didn't have my good camera with me, just the camera on my phone -- but I had to get a few shots of the quite newly displayed... um... displays.

Yes, the famous 'naturally high energy help foods' section of my local grocery. 

I love the ghost and pumpkin Happy Hallowe'en decor, but I still don't get how baked sweets

are 'help foods' in any 'natural, high energy' sense. I don't see donuts growing in the wild.

But the cakes they did have were pret-ty darn cool:

The three coffins were plastic toys with candy inside. Perfect.

Coffin cake, anyone? How great would it be to cut into this and

find a plastic (or better yet hard candy) skeleton inside?

This was atop the packaged deli meats section.

Cute! Not sure that I like my sandwich meats 'ice cold'; nor do I think that

if they were ice cold, it would be something I'd want to advertise as a good thing.

But you can't argue with the display! Made me smile with much bigness.

Then, of course...

Aaahhhh! My fuel come the last few days of October.

Just had to share.

Oh and, sadly, Young Will was not with me last night so I couldn't get him in on the act -- don't worry, next time for sure!

MELTYBEADS!

The 'She's there!' Witch Project II

Hi pubgoers!

I've had a busy couple of days and nights. Happy to say speaking like James Mason for 24 hours kept things from getting too burdensome.

I have more to do this weekend, but I wanted to submit this for your consideration.

Do you remember that post about the series of postcards telling the story of the witch and the goofy-eyed cat?

If not, you will need to read it before moving on.

Go ahead, we can wait.




-- whistle-hum-whistle-whistle-hum-hum --




Good? Good.

I think I've found another bit of evidence to fill in a few blanks.

Recall that at one point there were two Veggie Men, the 'Stalksquash', but then some time later we find that one of them was killed and turned into a car, and the other was forced to be the driver of that vehicle of gourdly death.

Recall also that we didn't know exactly what happened to precipitate such a tragic and cruel turn of events. Now, we still don't know exactly what transpired, but I've recently unearthed an image which at least chronicles some moment in the midst of that sudden conflict:

It appears as if Witch and Kitty are very angry at our two Veggie Men for something they did. 

It also looks like one of our Veggie Men, the one smiling and looking at his comrade, is happy about it.

Is it possible that Smiling Stalksquash framed Scared Stalksquash for some infraction of the rules of their once-happy circle? If so, Smiling Stalksquash surely didn't foresee the consequences, for all of them, of his little joke.

Then again, the Moon looks fairly pleased about all this as well, yet no one's suspecting the Moon.

Heaven knows the Moon has certainly been complicit in all sorts of silly nighttime behavior since time immemorial...

As ever, the more we discover, the more questions are raised!

Still, it's nice to have another bit of information to add to the case file of this little mystery.

If anyone can find more data, don't hesitate to bring it with you next time you come to the S&P.

Oh, MELTYBEADS!

"Iss that ssso...?"

Hey there, pubgoers.

Thanks to our good friend and loyal S&P patron Max, who happens to be a drunken, severed head, I just found out an interesting thing about today, Sep. 2nd.

Turns out today is the very first International Talk Like James Mason Day!

I KNOW, right?! You thought you were enjoying a normal early September day like any other.

Apparently it was begun by a fella named Callum Stewart over at the Classic Horror Film Board who figured there's just not enough of James Mason's incredible voice. You can read about Stewart's motivations in a neat little interview over at Max's site.

Now, I love everything I've seen him do from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Boys From Brazil and The Verdict, to Lolita, North By Northwest, Salem's Lot and numerous other works.

But rather than spend the day saying lines from these films in my best James Mason voice, I prefer to recite lines from things he never did, but would've just KILLED if he had.

- The voice of your ATM, elevator or GPS.
- Darth Vader. NO, Ben Kenobi -- hell any Star Wars character.
- Taxi Driver ("Are you... talking to me?")
- Just think of your doctor telling you anything a little unsettling ("You'll have to inssert this jusst sso... here!").

My favorite idea here is the Ghost Host from the Haunted Mansion. C'mon, can't you hear it? "Where hingesss creak in doorlessss chambersss... where strange and fright-en-ing soundsss echo (throat clear)... through the hallswhenevercandlelights... flickah, hm?"

I make myself laugh.

At any rate, today we need to talk like James Mason.

My all-time favorite anything he ever did, and I think the most appropriate Mason work for the Skull & Pumpkin and our Poe theme for this Hallowe'en, is the absolutely amazing UPA animated short from 1953, The Telltale Heart!



Eight marvelous minutes of Mason, menace and madness.

Try to get in a James Mason movie today, or at least answer the phone once as Humbert Humbert or Stryker from Salem's Lot.

Or call your doctor and say something is wrong with your voice...


DDSSSSP!

Again... the 'embers.

Welcome, folks. Come in, come in.

We are once again at the very crisp beginning of that part of the year my niece Livy once memorably coined 'The Embers'. 

Sure, October's an 'ober and not really an 'ember, but the spirit and the passion work so well we can ignore that little technicality.

But aahhhhh... September.

An Autumn Ozarks Vista

(source)

September. For some, a bittersweet end of Summer's party.

For others -- us -- the beginning of a season of magic and deep meaning.

Accordingly, I've removed some of the Summer staples from the jukebox, and added some new September songs.

Literally.

First up (after the obligatory, constant, and official theme song of the S&P, Vince Guaraldi's The Great Pumpkin Waltz), we have September Song, a cut from Ella Fitzgerald's remarkable 1960 album, The Intimate Ella. Paul Smith plays piano, and the frisson is just perfect.

Next, an apropos mid-'60s track from The Four Seasons -- See You In September. Sure, it's really about the beginning of Summer and not the end of it, and sure, The Tempos did it first in '59, and The Happenings in '66, and others later, but I like this one best.

Then, I couldn't resist. This ol' pub needs some funk every so often. In 1978, the legendary Earth, Wind & Fire released September, and if you don't "re-mem-bah", the problem is yours -- how can you not love this song? Besides, any song that has 'yeeeoOWww!' in it is good in my book.

For the next selection, I err on the side of short and sweet, even if it's pretty obscure. In 1984, the beautiful Karen Allen starred in a romantic little film called Until September, and the score (by the inimitable John Barry) made a very big impact on my teen mind. This motif is called 'Not Again' which might seem like a negative thing but I think it's the prettiest piece of the entire score.

And lastly, an even more obscure tune, and I hope you'll indulge and forgive me. See... if I had another 'blog, another pub dedicated solely to my musical history and passions (such a pub might be coming soon, I'll keep you posted), much of it would be about the main passion, the main creative and rewarding musical partnership of my life -- a little SoCal vocal harmony/acoustic group of two (and various thirds) called Letters Home. I won't get into all of it here, now, but I will say this song, conveniently titled September, was written/recorded in the late '80s by a teenaged me and my teenaged friend Mike Murphy, and is sung by Murf, with our friend Linda and I on harmonies. I play the guitar tracks. It's an old demo-ish recording, and I will always love it. I hope you like it too.

I've kept the David Lutesinger The Trees Weep Leaves, and as always, the jukebox closes with the official incidental music of the S&P, Pumpkintime from the Darol Anger - Barbara Higbie Quintet.

Also, while loading the jukebox, I heard some whistling, crackling static from the ol' Hallowe'enith console radio, and now I find that there's a new set of shows.

It seems in 1975, the iconic Leonard Nimoy recorded some of Ray Bradbury's short stories and one of them is really fitting for the Skull & Pumpkin, and our Hallowe'en theme for this year.

The story, originally published in the '50s, is called Usher II. In it, Bradbury lashes out at censorship, prudery, conservative brutishness, liberal cowardice, and the ease with which we can lose our most basic pleasurable freedoms when good people do nothing to stop evil people from imposing their beliefs.

It is told, appropriately enough, in terms of Poe's creations and legacy, and if I tell you any more, you won't bother to listen to the two-part (about 35 min. altogether) delight.

Just devote some time to it. It will reward you, I promise.

Thanks for reading this nearly pictureless post. I try not to do that too often.

Please enjoy!


 DDSP!